The first lines for the new
airplane, the Model 7 Champion, were laid on
vellum early in 1944 and the airplane flew in May
of that year. Chief test pilot Louis Wehrung did
the honours. The official designation of the
airplane was 7AC (Model 7, first variation,
Champion) and it used the A-65 Continental.
In laying out the configuration
of the Champ, designer Ray Hermes took square aim
at his primary competition, the J-3 Cub, which by
that time, was nearly a decade old. He made a list
of every one of the Cub's shortcomings and
designed them out of his new airplane. The final
lines of the Champ are the net result of Anti-Cub
design goals.
Forward visibility had always
been a Cub weak point and Hermes solved that in
two ways. First, he put the pilot in the front
seat and, second, he raised the seating position
and dropped the nose so the pilot could see
straight ahead while on the ground. This is why a
Champ appears so high in the cabin, when compared
to the Cub. The Cub may have finer, sleeker lines,
but the Champ pilot can not only see where he's
going but sits up in real comfort (relatively
speaking).
Cubs also came in for criticism
in the drafty arrangement of the door. While the
split door may be perfect for viewing sunsets
today, when the Cub was working for a living,
instructors and students alike cursed the leaky
doors. The Champion used a hinged, single-piece
door not unlike an automobile.
A little over 8,100 Champs were
produced, most of which were the 65 hp 7ACs which
ended production in April of 1948 to be replaced
by the 85 hp 7BCM (it was fuel injected and had a
larger dorsal fin, as well) which was ordered by
the military as the L-16A. The military then went
to 90 hp (fuel injected) and the nearest civilian
counterpart was the 7CCM. The most common civilian
version to come out of all of this was a
combination of the A and B model L-16, the 85 hp
7DC which had the larger dorsal and an additional
fuel tank in the right wing. Only 166 7DC's were
built before the final Champ was introduced, the
90 hp 7EC. The final Champ rolled off the Aeronca
line in January of 1951. It was Champ 7EC, SN96,
N4749E. Anyone know where it is today?
A good design has a way of
surviving and the 7EC is one of those. In 1954,
Champion Aircraft of Osceola, Wisconsin, put the
7EC back into production where it continued to be
up-graded, eventually becoming the 7ECA Citabria
in the early 1960's.
Mechanical Description
Champs use the triangular
aft-fuselage Gene Roche originally designed for
his little C-2 in the late 1920s. Because most
Champs have probably spent more time tied down
outside than in hangars, the plywood formers which
fair the fuselage into a square shape have to be
considered suspect. Bad fuselage wood isn't a
major safety concern but it takes time and money
to replace it.
Other than being triangular in
cross section, there is little about a Champ's
fuselage structure that presents unique inspection
concerns. All steel tube fuselages share the same
corrosion concerns, especially in the rear of the
fuselage and in the strut carry-through tube under
the floor.
The trim system is something
else that the designer worked at to make more
efficient than that on a Cub. When twisting the
Cub trim crank, the stabilizer is being screwed up
and down while the overhead knob in a Champ, which
moves fore and aft in a slot, runs a trim tab on
the elevator. The arrangement is quicker and
easier, although, since it is located over the
front pilot's left shoulder in the ceiling, it's a
stretch to reach from the back seat.
To absorb landing shocks, the
Champ uses an oleo-spring arrangement in the front
leg of the landing gear "V" frame rather than
bungees. In speaking with Buzz Wagner of the
International Aeronca Association, he said the
landing gear is the area in which they see the
most problems, mostly because people don't
maintain them or don't understand the system. The
system is designed to use exactly eight and a half
ounces of fluid. Let it get a half an ounce down
and the gear will be damaged. According to Wagner,
the majority of Champs in operation need the
landing gear rebuilt to one degree or another and
the difference in ground handling, when all the
worn parts are replaced, is significant.
There were two different oleo's
installed, the original straight oleo, and the "no
bounce" oleo which came out of the military's
desire for an airplane that could be dropped from
ridiculous heights without damage. The original
oleo is less complicated and easier to handle in a
crosswind. Wagner, among others, has new and
rebuilt replacements for either.
All Champs prior to the 1954
re-introduction of the 7EC used mechanical brakes.
These brakes, if properly adjusted, work just
fine. There are two distinct different types, the
Van Sickle/Cleveland type which is a traditional
drum and shoe set up where a rotating cam actuates
them and the Goodyear which is a form of
mechanical disk brake. In neither one is there no
an adjustment to move the shoes or pads closer to
the drums to compensate for wear, as in a car.
This is a weakness in the design and adjusting the
cable tighter (most mechanics' initial urge) won't
help. All that does is rotate the cam closer to
its limits. Wagner says, if shoe brakes are no
longer holding, replace the shoes. In the calliper
brakes, replace the pads, and if they still don't
hold, have the cam built back to its original
dimension by welding.
The post-1954 American Champion
7EC's used hydraulic drum brakes which eliminates
most of the problems. Fortunately, none of the
brake types are expensive to rebuild.
The wings are a combination of
wood spars and formed-aluminium ribs. There is no
rib stitching, as with most fabric airplanes, as
the fabric is screwed or pop-riveted to the ribs.
Generally speaking, Champ wings give little or no
trouble.
The wing struts are welded
closed which makes them less susceptible to rust
than some others. Rust, however, is still a
definite concern and they should be carefully
inspected as per FAA guide lines. The end fittings
are welded bushings, not adjustable forks, so
there is no concern in that area.
Flight Characteristics
It takes about ten seconds in a
Champ's cockpit to decide that all of Chief
Designer Hermes' Anti-Cub design goals were met
and then some. Some argue the Champ cockpit is too
modern. Too civilized. Those are usually Cub
pilots speaking.
Once on board, the immediate
impression will be of visibility and a cheerful
airiness. The wing and skylight is so high and the
pilot sits so far forward, there is none of the
"Man trapped in an airplane" feeling of so many of
the Champ's contemporaries. This is definitely the
airplane for a big person.
One of the cockpit's niceties
is that all of the major engine controls, i.e.
carb heat, fuel on/off, mags are in a panel by the
pilot's left hip. This makes them available from
both seats, although the front seat pilot has to
squirm around a bit to get a hand down there.
Incidentally, the later
airplanes have most of the fuel in the wings and
do away with the fuselage tank, while the original
airplanes have a fuel gage peeking out of the top
of the boot cowl for the fuselage tank.
If it's a 7AC, you'll be doing
the "Brakes! Contact!" routine with an Armstrong
starter. If a 7EC, there's a "T' handled on the
right half of the instrument panel that eases the
starting chores.
In most areas, there's a big
handling difference between the A and E models
because of the difference in weight. An original,
lightly finished A model with its 65 hp
Continental weights about 710-725 pounds or about
the same as a Cub. The 90 hp E models sometimes
weigh as much as 200 pounds more because of
electrical, interior, tanks, etc.
There's some difference of
opinion as to how to start a take-off in a Champ,
stick forward or stick back. A lot of the flight
schools that used later 7ECs with the No-Bounce
gears routinely started the takeoff roll with the
stick full forward. Presumably, this was done to
get the tail up as soon as possible to keep the
oleos from extending. If the pilot waits too long
to pick the tail up, the weight will come off the
oleos while in a three-point position allowing
them to extend. When they're extended, they have
little to no resistance so they'll compress
easily. When one compresses, even though the
airplane is headed straight, the illusion is that
the airplane is turning and pilots often poke in
rudder that's not needed causing a swerve where
there was none. Bear in mind, however, that all of
this is happening in slow motion as the airplane
will fly-off somewhere in the neighbourhood of 45
mph.
Theoretically, the bigger
engine Champs will climb better than the lowly
7AC, but not by much. The books say an AC is
supposed to give 500 rpm and the EC 800 rpm. In
real life, the difference isn't that great.
Because of its lighter weight, the 7AC floats off
the ground compared to the 7EC which feels more
like it's on rails. Only the very lightest 7AC,
however, has the feather-like feeling of a Cub
when it separates.
Most of the Cub's resemblance
to a feather is probably because the Cub has just
enough more wing area that its wing loading at
gross is a little lower, 6.8 lb/sq. ft to 7.1
lb/sq. ft. The books say a 7EC weighs 890 pounds
empty (1450 pounds gross, more than a C-140)
compared to a 7AC at 710 pounds (1220 pounds
gross, about the same as a Cub).
Note that the 7EC, despite its
much bigger engine has about the same useful load
as the 7AC.
Once up to cruising speed, the
7AC (65 hp) can generally be depended on to be 5-8
mph faster than the similarly powered Cub, or a
good solid 85-90 mph. The 7ECs seem to run about
90-95 mph.
Ask any who fly a Champ and
they'll all say its a "...rudder airplane...".
That's because its adverse yaw is so pronounced,
you either coordinate with rudder or slip and
slide around on the seat. It's much more
noticeable than in a Cub. This makes it a superb
trainer.
When you start trying to
compare things like roll rate and aileron
pressures between airplanes like Cubs and Champs,
you're dealing more with perceptions than actual
differences. For one thing, the Cub control stick
juts up higher, especially in the front seat, and
has an innately "bigger" feel to it. The
mechanical advantage means the stick moves further
than a Champ's in the same situation, but the
response is probably close to being the same. The
pressures, also, are close, but it is very
difficult to say. The perception is that Cub
controls are heavier, when they really aren't.
There is, however, a difference
to the overall "feel" of the controls. Somehow, a
Cub feels a little more precise and a touch
quicker. We're splitting some very slow-speed
hairs at this point, but that seems to be the
general opinion.
Compared to a C-152, the roll
performance will seem leisurely at best. The
pressures are slightly lighter than a Citabria and
the roll rate about the same.
The Champ stalls normally, with
just a tiny bit of edge to it. Release the stick
and it's flying again. Kick a rudder hard and it
rotates into a surprisingly comfortable spin that
stops as soon as you release back pressure and
punch a rudder. Just letting go will bring it out
almost as quickly as doing something deliberate.
Depending on the model, a Champ
is happy to approach at just about any speed, but
keeping it under 60 cuts down the float.
Three-point landings happen almost automatically
once you get used to a nose that's not in the way.
The sight picture isn't that much different than
landing a C-152 on its mains and holding the nose
off. Actually, you can probably see more out of
the Champ.
In a no-wind situation, the
airplane will track perfectly straight. Given a
good cross wind, the pilot will have to work a
little harder but the airplane will handle it as
long as the pilot keeps the wing down and the nose
straight.
Wheel landings are also
automatic and probably easier than in any other
type of taildragger. Just don't force it on. Let
it find the ground, pin it in place and the
landing is over.
The controversy between those
who love the Cub and those who swear by the Champ
will never be resolved. The important thing to
remember is they are both terrific airplanes and
the Champ wouldn't have survived as long as it has
if it hadn't had the Cub as a role model.